


Brothers in Heart

by Nia (Lingwiloke)



Category: Fae Tales - not_poignant
Genre: Gen, at least it's supposed to be, fairy-tale style
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-29
Updated: 2014-04-29
Packaged: 2018-01-21 07:41:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1542950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lingwiloke/pseuds/Nia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Once upon a time, there was a lake..."<br/>The story of the first meeting of Augus Each Uisge and Ash Glashtyn as told by a fae mother to her children.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Brothers in Heart

**Author's Note:**

  * For [not_poignant](https://archiveofourown.org/users/not_poignant/gifts).



> Pure self-indulgence after too much exposure to not-happy Augus-and-Ash in "Strange Sights".  
> Unbeta'ed, because I wouldn't know whom to give it to. Unfortunately, I'm not a native speaker - I apologize in advance for any odd wording or mangled grammar.
> 
> This is supposed to be the story the story of Augus' and Ash's first meeting as told by a fae mother to her children (some sort of bird fae, in my head, but that's not really important to the story). So any 'historical inaccuracies' you may spot (such as Augus and Ash naming each other instead of Augus choosing names for them both, newborn Ash being rather too eloquent, or a sentient lake, for that matter) are likely due to that; or just to my forgetfulness.

Once upon a time, before you and your mother and even your mother’s mother ever took wing, once upon a time, there was a lake.

It was a beautiful lake, clear and cool and deep, framed by ancient willow-trees and its shore adorned with bluebells and primroses in spring. There were water striders skipping on its surface, and dragonflies mating in the reeds; small birds chirped in the trees and chased insects by the water, and it was filled with tasty fish to your heart’s content. (You would have loved it, little one).

But the lake was lonely.

And so, one day, when the sun was low on the horizon and the sky painted red, and night was in the air, in the deepest deeps of the lake where no sunlight ever reached, there was a shudder, tiny at first, than another, and another, each growing in strength until they caused a ripple in the still surface of the water. The ripples grew wider, and wider, spread in circles that made fish flee and scatter in all directions. The ripples grew into waves, and more waves, that rolled through the lake until one lapped at the shore and brought something with it, dark and wet and yet small. And the lake stilled, as the sun sunk below the horizon.

And thus, the Each Uisge was reborn once more.

A young but lithe foal when the lake spat him upon the shore, he grew quickly. Not yet fully grown he was already a sight to behold: His sable pelt shimmering like black velvet when he rose from the waters, his mane dripping and his teeth glinting razors, head held high and eyes blazing with a feral light, cunning yet ferocious.

And the lake was content, for a while.

But after a time, it grew restless; and then happened what would be the wonder of many in later times. For only scant years after the Each Uisge had first emerged from the depths of the lake, the ground at the bottom of the lake trembled again with the power of ancient forces that disturbed the silty depths and made the water ripple. This time, the ripples never grew into full waves, and the faint hum of power that accompanied them was thin and wavering. But still, the waters bore another foal, a tiny thing, flecked and peculiar, but very much alive.

And thus, the Glashtyn was reborn once more.

But a waterhorse is not born to share its territory, and it took not long for the Each Uisge to sense the presence of another in his lake. He had been feeding on reeds and waterweed in the shallows, enjoying the sun on his back and the gentle lap of the water against his sides, but all of a sudden, his head snapped up in suspicion. With narrowed eyes, he sniffed the air, and then growled in irritation. An angry huff and a toss of his mane, and he turned on the spot and followed the scent offending his nostrils. Upon reaching the bank of the lake, he fell into a trot and then a canter, until he came upon the intruder like a black thundercloud.

When he espied his enemy, however, he skidded to a halt, momentarily bewildered. Still somewhat unsteady on his new legs, it was a small and scrawny foal, a runt; the lake having given a life where there should not have been one. But when his surprise had passed, the Each Uisge’s wrath was kindled anew, that such a one had dared to encroach upon his territory, who would not even be a worthy rival to him.

‘How dare you intrude upon my lake, you miserable lout?’ he snarled, and his growl shook the ground and rushed through the reeds like a fell wind. ‘Do you not know who I am, I, the Each Uisge?’

The foal, however, seemed quite unfazed, and he looked at the Each Uisge towering over him, at his glowering eyes and his razor teeth bared in rage, and answered:

‘I do not know what makes you speak thus. For has not the lake born me from its waters just as it has born you? I mean you no harm; indeed, I wish for your company, for borne from the same waters as we are, are we not brothers?’ He whinnied gaily and tossed his curly mane. ‘Come brother, do not be so dour! Let us run together and be merry!’

And the Each Uisge huffed in disdain and flattened his ears in annoyance; but then he looked upon the foal once more, and remembered lone hours spent prowling the shore all by himself, and he thought to himself: ‘This one is weak, and a sad excuse for one of our kind indeed, but he may yet have his uses. I shall take him as my companion for I while; it will be easy to dispose of him, should I tire of his antics.’

But in his heart of hearts, he knew something had stirred within him, something that he could not yet name.

And so it came to be that the Each Uisge, in this round of the grand wheel of time, shared a lake and home with the Glashtyn, two mighty ones in the waters of one, as they had never been before.

And the Glashtyn grew and prospered and followed the Each Uisge faithfully, and as little might be thought, in time there grew a fondness and a love between them, and thus they became brothers not only in name, but in heart also. And they gave each other names, to distinguish themselves from those who came before them; and so they are known as Augus Each Uisge and Ash Glashtyn to this day.  
And in times to come, though many hardships should befall these two, ever did they stay true to one another, and never could their bond be severed.

And in that place framed by willow-trees and water rushes, where two waterhorse brothers once roamed the waters side by side, the lake still glints with joy in the sunlight.


End file.
